Tagged: Harry Abrams

Medicare and Social Security didn’t seem to be enough for one 76-year-old New Yorker: He confessed he swindled nearly $400,000 from his 98-year-old victim.

New York businessman Harry Abrams was ordered Thursday to pay $388,063.75 in restitution and sentenced to weekends in jail for a year after being caught forging checks and transferring thousands of dollars from accounts held by a man who Abrams said was “like a father” to him, said district attorney’s office spokeswoman Joan Vollero.

His victim was a 98-year-old, semi-retired lawyer, Emanuel Baetich, according to law enforcement sources.

Abrams pleaded guilty to all charges, which included grand larceny, forgery and money laundering, Vollero said. He carried out his complex scheme to fleece his friend while Baetich was hospitalized during 2009 and 2010, said Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Loewy, who heads the office’s Elder Abuse Unit. Abrams allowed Baetich to work from his office in Midtown Manhattan free of charge, she added, since the two had been friends for years.